Sport shoe



A. DASSLER Nov. 15, 1966 SPORT SHOE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed 001.. 18,1963 A. DASSLER Nov. 15, 1966 SPORT SHOE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 18.1963 Fig.8

United States Patent 3,284,931 SPORT SHOE Adolf Dassler, am Bahnhof,Herzogenaurach, near Nurnberg, Germany Filed Get. 18, 1963, Ser. No.317,314 Claims priority, application Germany, Aug. 14, 1963, D 7,379 1Claim. (Cl. 36-54) The present invention relates to a novel structuraldesign for the flap or tongue which is generally provided in a sportshoe for the purpose of covering the lacing aperture thereof.

In sport shoes the lacing aperture usually extends downwardly to a pointshortly before the toes. The provision of such a long lacing is toensure a tight fit of the laced up shoe on the wearers foot.Furthermore, the lacing aperture is mostly cut to be relatively wide sothat the upper of the shoe may satisfactorily adapt itself to differentfoot widths. Of course, such a wide lacing aperture requires theprovision of a correspondingly large flap which is consequently designedto be much longer and wider in sport shoes than is the case in normalordinary footwear.

The provision of such a relatively large-sized sport shoe flap entails anumber of particular problems and difficulties. Thus, in conventionalsport shoes, the fiap which is generally made of leather andcontinuously extends in one piece over the entire length and widththereof, cannot smoothly apply itself against the instep of the footbecause of the inherent stiffness of leather. Due to the large width ofthe flap, longitudinal creases will, therefore, form when the lacing istightened and these creases will extend along the entire length of theinstep of the foot, where they are particularly annoying and adverselyaffect a satisfactory blood circulation in the wearers foot, if the shoeis worn on the naked foot, which is, for instance, customary with trackshoes. These creases will permanently stay in the flap and the formationand deepening thereof is further enhanced by the influence of moisture,for example by sweat exuded by the wearers foot. Aside from thelongitudinally extending creases, there will also form transverselyexte'nding creases in the flap, which again will cause an undesirableshortening of the flap length.

Now, the existence of such creases in the flap will not only causepainful pressure on the wearers foot; another deficiency caused therebyis that, once the flap has been deformed, the correct, i.e. the exactlycentral fit of the flap on the instep of the foot can never again beensured. As a result thereof the flap will be displaced to adopt anoblique position when the lacing is tightened and will gradually slidelaterally off the instep towards the outer side of the foot, i.e.towards the outer ball portion of the foot, which displacement may occurall the more easily, as the relatively long and wide flap is connectedto the upper of the shoe only by a relatively short seam, directlyadjacent the toes, which seam, naturally, cannot oppose the requisiteresistance against any distortion of the flap. As said seam is locatedimmediately adjacent the toes, it cannot be enlarged by simply enlargingthe lower flap end, because this would again result in painful pressurebeing exerted on the delicate toe portion of the foot.

Finally, account must be taken of the fact that the flaps are frequentlyneglected when the shoes are being cleaned, so that the flap will becomeincreasingly brittle already after a relatively short time of use.

Now, it has already been tried to solve this problem by padding the flapin sport shoes, on the side facing the instep of the foot, for instancewith a plastic material 3,284,931 Patented Nov. 15, 1966 "ice of thefoam-structure type such as foam rubber or foam plastic, in order tothus alleviate the painful pressure exerted by the lacing on the wearersfoot. It has, however, hitherto been impossible to thereby equally solvethe problem arising in view of the creases. In previously known designsthe flap was frequently provided with a tongue which was fastenedthereto shortly below the upper end thereof on the side facing the foot,said tongue being adapted to be folded over outwardly of the shoe, withsuch folded portion equally comprising an aperture through which thelacing was to be passed. Thus, both the flap itself and the foldedportion connected thereto were held tight when the shoe was laced. Quiteirrespective of the fact that, when a flap of this type is provided, thelacing of the shoe involves considerable difficulties for the sportsmanwearing such -a shoe, such a design still does not solve the basicproblem encountered with conventional leather flaps, namely theircompletely insufficient adaptability to the shape of the instep of thewearers foot.

It is now the object of the present invention to overcome thisdeficiency and, moreover, it is to further improve such flaps for sportshoes also in a number of other respects.

The flap of the present invention is quite generally characterized inthat it is subdivided, in its longitudinal direction, into a paddedcentral portion extending across the width of the upper arch surface orinstep of the foot, and two lateral portions which are adapted to befolded downwardly from the padded central portion of the flap towardsthe sole of the shoe. The pad which is made, for instance, of foamrubber or plastic foam material may be cut in the form of strips. Due tothe fact that the lateral portions of the flap are adapted to be foldeddownwardly because of the subdivision of the flap, the flap of thepresent invention may smoothly apply itself against the upper archsurface or instep of the foot as well as against the lateral footportions adjacent the instep, without any creases being formed thereby.Any shortening of the length of the flap, which was frequentlyencountered in continuously cut, relatively stiff conventional leatherflaps is positively prevented by the elastic padded central portion suchas provided in the flap of the present invention.

The lateral portions of the flap may be made of leather or of any othermaterial that is suited for this purpose, for instance of a syntheticplastic material. The padded central portion and the lateral portions ofthe flap may, however, also be constituted by a single piece of materialhaving a shape corresponding to the shape of the flap and being providedwith suitable seams which subdivide said flap into a central pad portionand lateral portions.

In cases where the upper is cut to extend up relatively high on thewearers foot, for instance in boxers boots, and wherein the flap, too,is of a relatively great length, it is desirable to manufacture the flapin such a manner that, from its lower to its upper end, it will be ofarcuate configuration that corresponds to the contour of the upper archsurface or instep of the foot, which object may easily be achieved bysimply providing for suitable narrowing seams. This measure will, at thesame time, also contribute to preventing the formation of creases.

In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention the paddedcentral portion of the flap is constituted by a pad the two surfaces ofwhich are covered or lined with a non-extensible and stretch-resistantfabric. Due to the stretch-resistance of said fabric which may, forinstance, con-sist of a polyamide fibre, preferably of nylon, anydistortion of said lateral portions towards said padded central portionis positively prevented.

It is true that it is already known to provide sport shoe flaps whichare composed of two elongated half-portions. In this instance theconnecting seam which holds the two portions together, extends preciselyalong the centre line of the instep. Thus, in the conventional flaps, noprovisions are made for a subdivision of the flap such as provided bythe above-described invention, wherein a padded central portion which isset off with respect to the lateral portions thereof, extends across theentire width of the upper arch surface or instep of the foot.Furthermore, in the conventional flaps, the lengthwise subdivisionthereof was effected in view of a consideration which had nothing to dowith the basic concept of the present invention; in fact, the reason forsuch previously used subdivision was the circumstance that it was topermit the use of wasteleather pieces for the flaps, because in thismanner it was possible to piece said flaps together from otherwiseunusable material. In the conventional flaps, the longitudinal seam wasfrequently covered by a leather strip which, of course, further impededthe adaptation of the flap to the shape of the instep.

Depending on the particular anatomic shape of the foot of a footballplayer, it appears furthermore necessary to make additional provisionson the flap, in order to thereby ensure a safe protection of the bonesthat form the instep portion of the foot (particularly the metatarsalbone). In this connection account is to be taken of the fact that thesebones are subjected to excessive stress and strain and thus to anincreased risk of injury, when the player is effecting a so-called fullinstep kick. This very frequently entails a deformation of themetatarsal bone which extends along the central instep portion of thefoot, with the result that the bone will eventually form a bulge on theinstep, which reacts, of course, very delicately upon the influence ofpressure and is easily irritated thereby. Thus, the football player is,in many instances, hindered from actively taking part in football gamesover prolonged periods of time, which, in view of the great value whichfootball players represent nowadays for their clubs, may involve seriousfinancial losses.

In contradistinction to previously known flaps, the flap of the presentinvention is to be designed not only so that it will substantiallycompletely prevent any injuries of this type on the instep portion ofthe foot, but that it will, at the same time, also alleviate anyimpediment which a sportsman may already be suffering from, to such anextent that the sportsman will again be able to fully participate insports activities, For this purpose the present invention firstlysuggests that the padded central portion of the flap be covered, on theside remote from the upper arch surface or instep of the foot, with astrip consisting of a relatively stiff and shape-retaining material,preferably leather. Advantageously, a pocket which extends in thelongitudinal direction of the flap, is provided between said relativelystiff and shape-retaining cover strip and said padded central portion ofthe flap, said pocket serving to receive a further strip-shaped pad. Inorder to further improve the protective effect of this strip-shaped pad,the same is conveniently made of a material which is somewhat lesscompressible than foam type material, for instance of compact rubber. Assaid strip-shaped pad is fixed within said pocket, it cannot bedisplaced when a ball kick is effected. This is especially important inthose cases where the bulge that is caused on the instep of the foot bythe deformed metatarsal bone, is to be compensated for by means of abolster pad which is applied around said bulge. The bolster pad in thisinstance comprises an aperture which is located exactly above saidinstep bulge and which must absolutely be retained in this position alsoduring a game.

This requirement is now positively complied with due to the fact thatthe bolster strip, in accordance with the present invention, is placedwithin a pocket. Furthermore, the thickness of said bolster piece may belimited to the absolutely necessary degree so that the players ballcontrol is not unnecessarily impaired.

consists of a foam type material.

A number of embodiments of the present invention will now be furtherdescribed in detail, merely by way of example, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a perspective view of a football shoe provided with aflap according to the present invention;

FIGURE 2 shows a top plan view of said flap;

FIGURE 3 shows a cross-sectional view taken substantially along the lineIIIIII of FIGURE 2;

FIGURES 4 and 5 show top plan views of flaps comprising a relativelystiff and shape-retaining covering or lining on the padded centralportion thereof;

FIGURE 6 shows a top plan view of another embodiment of the flapaccording to the present invention;

FIGURE 7 shows a cross-sectional view taken substantially along lineVII-VII in FIGURE 6; and

FIGURE 8 shows a view illustrating how the fiap of the present inventionengages the wearers foot, with the lateral flap portions being foldeddownwardly of the padded central portion thereof.

With reference to the embodiments shown in FIG- URES 2 to 5 of thedrawings, the flap which is generally denoted by reference numeral 1, iscomposed of the strip shaped padded central portion 2 and of the lateralportions 3, 4 which are attached to thelongitudinally extending edges ofsaid central portion 2. F-lap portions 2, 3 and 4 are connected witheach other by means of seams 5. The lateral portions 3 and 4 are so outthat the overall shape obtained will be in the form of a normal flap.

As will best be seen in FIGURE 3, the bolster or pad proper is, on bothsurfaces thereof, covered or lined with textile strips 6, '7 which areequally sewn to the lateral portions 3 and 4.

With reference to the embodiment shown in FIGURE 2 of the drawings, theflap is not subdivided along its entire length. Instead, the lateralportions 3 and 4 still cohere with each other at the lower flap end. Thegap between the portions 3 and 4, which serves to accommodate the paddedcentral portion 2, may be obtained by a punching operation from acorrespondingly cut piece of material, for instance of leather. Thecircumstance that'the lateral portions 3 and 4 still cohere at the lowerflap end does not cause any inconvenience inasmuch as the upper archsurface or instep of the foot at this point, directly adjacent the toesis still very flat and consequently the flap cannot slide off laterally.

In the embodiments illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5 of the drawings, inwhich the flap is subdivided along its entire length, a cover 8 (FIG. 5)is provided on the surface of the padded central portion 2 remote fromthe instep of the foot, said cover 8 consisting of a material which issomewhat stiffer and more shape-retaining than the pad or bolster body2, such as leather plastic or a similar suitable material. In theembodiment shown in FIGURE 4, this cover is slit lengthwise, whereby theportions 8 and 8" are obtained. It is between said two latter portionsand the padded central portion 2 that a pocket 10 is formed into which afurther bolsterstrip 9 is inserted which is made of a less compressiblematerial such as rubber than the pad body 2 which generally Since thecover 8 is slit, the strip 9 may easily and readily be inserted intosaid pocket 10. The strip 9 is provided with an aperture 12 which, inthe case where the wearer of the shoe suffers from a deformation of themetatarsal bone, is located above such deformed area.

In the embodiment of FIGURE 5, the cover 8 is made of one continuouspiece of material so that the strip 9 must be introduced from the frontend into the pocket 10 which is formed between said cover portion andsaid padded central portion 2.

The cover portion 8 is conveniently connected or sewn along seams 11only to the padded central portion 2 of the flap so that the downwardfoldablity of the lateral portions 3, 4 from said padded central portion2 is not impeded in any way.

The subdivision of the flap along the entire :length thereof furtherprovides for the advantage that the lower end of the padded centralportion 2 may be utilized for sewing the flap into the shoe. Due to thecompressibility of the padded central portion, no pressure areas will becaused on the foot underneath the seam, such as, in con tradistinctionthereto, is the case when leather must be sewn to the shoe at the pointwhere the flap is fastened inside the shoe. For this reason it has, inmany cases, been common practice to scarf the leather at the point wherethe connecting seam was to be applied. This again used to result in thedeficiency that, as soon as a somewhat stronger tensional stress isapplied to the flap, the same may easily be torn off along the seam.This shortcoming is positively avoided when using the flap of thepresent invention since, despite the fact that they are thinner thanleather, the stretch-resistant textile strips which line the pad orbolster are so strong that when the lower end of portion 2 is sewn tothe shoe, the danger of tearing along the seam is greatly reduced.

FIGURES 6 and 7 illustrate another embodiment of a flap according to thepresent invention, wherein the padded central portion 2 and the lateralportions 3, 4 are made of one piece of material which is made tocorrespond to the desired shape of the flap, said piece of material, inview of providing for the subdivision of the flap, being provided withseams 5 that separate the central pad portion from the latertal portionsof the flap. In this instance the flap is not composed of several parts.The piece of material from which the flap is produced may be made of afoam type material having both surfaces thereof lined with astretch-resistant textile 6, 7, for instance of nylon.

.FIGURE 8 shows the flap of the present invention in use, i.e. such asit is applied against the wearers foot. The padded central portionextends in the longitudinal and transversal directions across thecentral part of the instep. The part of the foot adjacent said centralpart of the instep is covered by the lateral portions 3, 4 which areadapted to be folded downwardly from the padded central portion, in adirection towards the sole of the shoe.

Although the present invention has been illustrated and described withreference to preferred embodiments thereof, it is to be understood thatit is by no means limited to the details of such embodiments, but iscapable of numerous modifications within the scope of the appendedclaim.

Having thus fully disclosed my invention, What I claim 15:

In a shoe, particularly in a soccer shoe, an upper having an elongatedlacing aperture bounded by two facing edges and having a closed lowerend, said upper having adjacent said facing edges lacing regions; anelongated tongue composed of an elongated padded central portion havinga lower end and opposite edges and a substantially U-sha-ped unpaddedportion secured to said elongated padded central portion along saidlower end and said opposite edges thereof and being substantiallythinner than said padded central portion of said tongue; and means forsecuring said unpadded U-shaped portion in the region of said lower endof said padded central portion to the inner face of the upper in theregion of said closed lower end of said lacing aperture so that saidpadded central portion of said tongue underlies said lacing aperture andsaid unpadded U-shaped portion underlies mainly said lacing regions ofsaid upper.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 658,342 9/ 1900Christensen 36-54 753,745 3/1904 Sharood 3654 1,275,895 8/1918 Fox 36541,309,958 7/1919 Phillips 3654 2,508,994 5/1950 Demick 3654 3,076,2742/1963 Schlecht 3654 FOREIGN PATENTS 1 362,105 12/ 1931 Great Britain.

JORDAN FMNKLIN, Primary Examiner.

FRANK J. COHEN, Examiner.

G. V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner.

